beginner question about interfacing with a rs232 device.

I'm a total beginner in c++ and i want for my learning curve to write a little program to interface with an old tablet ( like wacom ) from my com2 port.

i only need to read data from it, i alrready know the protocol. It sends 5 bytes, 1 is statuts and the other 4 are positions coordinates.
basically i just want to write a little program that outputs : statuts = no pen/ pen near/ pen touching ( that s the only 3 status available ).
x= x coordinate
y= y coordinate

i already basically figured out how to achieve this but my problem is that i have no clue about how setting up my program to recieve the data from the port. Is there a free simple serial library that i can use, just to open com2, set 19200 8,n,1 and then go to my main function ?